^, 


IMAGE  EVALUATION 
TEST  TARGET  (MT-S) 


k 


A* 


M 


A 


LO 

11.25 


^Uk    |22 
1^    12.0 


m 


am  I 


1.4 


V] 


o\ 


7a 


/ 


^  ^  .>'* 

v^'^^^'^'^ 


Photographic 

Sciences 
Corporation 


23  WEST  MAIN  STREET 

WEBSTER,  N.Y.  MS80 

(716)  872-4503 


>^^ 
V 


^^ 


CIHM/ICMH 

Microfiche 

Series. 


CIHM/ICMH 
Collection  de 
microfiches. 


Canadibn  Institute  for  Historical  Microreproductions  /  Institut  Canadian  de  microreproductions  historiques 


\ 


\ 


Technical  and  Bibliographic  Notes/Notes  techniques  et  bibliographiques 


The  Institute  has  attempted  to  obtain  the  best 
original  copy  available  for  filming.  Features  of  this 
copy  which  may  be  bibliographically  unique, 
which  may  alter  any  of  the  images  in  the 
reproduction,  or  which  may  significantly  change 
the  usual  method  of  filming,  are  checked  below. 


D 


D 


D 


D 


D 


Coloured  covers/ 
Couverture  de  couleur 


I      I    Covers  damaged/ 


Couverture  endommag^e 

Covers  restored  and/or  laminated/ 
Couverture  restaurto  et/ou  pellicul6e 


I      I    Cover  title  missing/ 


Le  titre  de  couverture  manque 


I      I    Coloured  maps/ 


Cartes  g6ographiques  en  couleur 


□    Coloured  init  (i.e.  other  than  blue  or  black)/ 
Encre  de  couleur  (i.e.  autre  que  bleue  ou  noire) 

I      I   Coloured  plates  and/or  iilustratiuns/ 


Planches  et/ou  illustrations  en  couleur 

Bound  with  other  material/ 
Reli6  avec  d'autres  documents 

Tight  binding  may  cause  shadows  or  distortion 
along  interior  margin/ 

La  re  liure  serr^e  pout  causer  de  I'ombre  ou  de  la 
distortion  le  long  de  la  marge  intirieure 

Blank  leaves  added  during  restoration  may 
appear  within  the  text.  Whenever  possible,  these 
have  been  omitted  from  filming/ 
II  se  peut  que  certaines  pages  blanches  ajouties 
lors  d'une  restauration  apparaissent  dans  le  texte, 
mais,  iorsque  cela  6tait  possible,  ces  pages  n'ont 
pas  M  filmies. 

Additional  comments:/ 
Commentaires  suppldmentaires; 


L'Institut  a  microfilm^  le  meilleur  exemplaire 
qu'il  tui  a  AtA  possible  de  se  procurer.  Les  details 
de  cet  exemplaire  q  jI  sont  peut-Atre  uniques  du 
point  de  vue  bibliographique,  qui  peuvent  modifier 
une  image  reproduite,  ou  qui  peuvent  exiger  une 
modification  dans  la  mithode  normale  de  filmage 
sont  indiquis  ci-dessous. 


I      I   Coloured  pages/ 


n 


Pages  de  couleur 

Pages  damaged/ 
Pages  endommag^es 

Pages  restored  and/oi 

Pages  restaur6es  et/ou  pelliculies 

Pages  discoloured,  stained  or  foxe( 
Pages  d6color6es,  tachet^es  ou  piqudes 

Pages  detached/ 
Pages  ddtachdes 

Showthroiigh/ 
Transparence 

Quality  of  prir 

Quality  in^gale  de  I'impression 

Includes  supplementary  materii 
Comprend  du  materiel  suppi^mentaire 


I  I  Pages  damaged/ 

I  I  Pages  restored  and/or  laminated/ 

r~~\  Pages  discoloured,  stained  or  foxed/ 

I  I  Pages  detached/ 

I  I  Showthroiigh/ 

I  I  Quality  of  print  varies/ 

I  I  Includes  supplementary  material/ 


Only  edition  available/ 
Seule  Edition  dinponible 

Pages  wholly  or  partially  obscured  by  errata 
slips,  tissues,  etc.,  have  been  refilmed  to 
ensure  the  best  possible  image/ 
Les  pages  totalement  ou  partiellement 
obscurcies  par  un  feuillbt  d'errata,  une  pelure, 
etc.,  ont  6t6  fiimies  d  nouveau  de  fapon  d 
obtenir  la  meilleure  image  possible. 


The  C( 
to  the 


Their 
possil 
of  the 
filmin 


Origin 
begini 
the  lai 
sion. 
other 
first  p 
sion, 
or  illut 


The  la 
shall  c 
TINUE 
which 

IVIaps, 
differs 
entirel 
beginn 
right  a 
requiri 
metho 


This  item  is  filmed  at  the  reduction  ratio  checked  below/ 

Ce  document  est  film6  au  taux  de  reduction  indiqu6  ci-dessous. 


10X 

14X 

18X 

22X 

26X 

30X 

1 

y 

1 

12X 

16X 

20X                            24X                            28X                            32X 

1 
1 

»laire 
18  details 
ques  du 
nt  modifier 
liger  une 
le  filmage 


iu6es 


The  copy  filmed  here  hat  been  reproduced  thanks 
to  the  generosity  of: 

Library  of  the  Pubiic 
Archives  of  Canada 

The  images  appearing  here  are  the  best  quality 
possible  considering  the  condition  and  legibility 
of  the  original  copy  and  in  keeping  with  the 
filming  contract  specifications. 


Original  copies  in  printed  paper  covers  are  filmed 
beginning  with  the  front  cover  and  ending  on 
the  last  page  with  a  printed  or  illustrated  impres- 
sion, or  the  back  cover  when  appropriate.  All 
other  original  copies  are  filmed  beginning  on  the 
first  page  with  a  printed  or  illustrated  impres- 
sion, and  ending  on  the  last  page  with  a  printed 
or  illustrated  impression. 


The  last  recorded  frame  on  each  microfiche 
shall  contain  the  symbol  -^  (meaning  "CON- 
TINUED"), or  the  symbol  V  (meaning  "END"), 
whichever  applies. 


L'exemplaire  film*  fut  reproduit  grAce  k  la 
gipArosit*  de: 

Ln  bibiiothAque  des  Archives 
pubiiques  du  Canada 

Les  images  suivantes  ont  MA  reproduites  avec  le 
plus  grand  soin,  compte  tenu  de  la  condition  et 
de  la  nettetA  de  l'exemplaire  f ilmA,  et  en 
conformitA  avec  les  conditions  du  contrat  de 
filmage. 

Les  exempiaires  originaux  dont  ia  couverture  en 
papier  est  imprimAe  sont  fiimAs  en  commenpant 
par  ie  premier  plat  et  en  terminant  soit  par  ia 
dernlAre  page  qui  comporte  une  empreinte 
d'impresslon  ou  d'illustration,  soit  par  le  second 
plat,  salon  le  cas.  Tous  les  autres  exempiaires 
originaux  sont  fiimAs  en  commen^ant  par  ia 
premiAre  page  qui  comporte  une  empreinte 
d'impresslon  ou  d'illustration  et  en  terminant  par 
la  dernlAre  page  qui  comporte  une  telle 
empreinte. 

Un  des  symboles  suivants  apparattra  sur  ia 
dernlAre  image  de  cheque  microfiche,  selon  ie 
cas:  ie  symbols  — »>  signifie  "A  SUIVRE",  ie 
symbols  V  signifie  "FIN". 


aire 


Maps,  plates,  charts,  etc.,  may  be  filmed  at 
different  reduction  ratios.  Those  too  large  to  be 
entirely  included  in  one  exposure  are  filmed 
beginning  in  the  upper  left  hand  corner,  left  to 
right  and  top  to  bottom,  as  many  frames  as 
required.  The  following  diagrams  illustrate  the 
method: 


Les  cartes,  planches,  tableaux,  etc.,  peuvent  Atre 
fiimAs  A  des  taux  de  rAduction  diffArents. 
Lorsque  le  document  est  trop  grand  pour  Atre 
reproduit  en  un  seui  clichA,  ii  est  f  IlmA  A  partir 
de  I'angle  supArieur  gauche,  de  gauche  A  droite, 
et  de  haut  en  bas,  en  prenant  le  nombre 
d'images  nAcessalre.  Les  diagrammes  suivants 
illustrent  la  mAthode. 


by  errata 
led  to 

ent 

jne  pelure, 

apon  A 


1 

2 

3 

32X 


1 

2 

3 

4 

5 

6 

T 1 1  !•; 


PvKSULTS    IN    KlIKOPK 


OK 


CARTIER^S    EXPLOIIATIONS, 


1542-1(J():^ 


BY 


JUSTIN     WINSOIJ. 


I 


I 


[KKnilNTKI),     SKVKNTV-IIVK     ((tl'Ils.     FliOM     TIIK     I 'it' »(i;i;i)l  N(iS     ol       Mil 

Massaciiiisktin   lliMdiiii' m,  S<k:ii;tv.| 


CAMIMUIXJE: 

JOHN     WILSON     AND     SOX. 

ainibcrsitg  ^Jvcss. 

1892. 


T,i*h.->-' 


(JAIITlKirS     KXIM.OIJA^riOXS. 


'I'liK  results  of  CartiiM-'s  cxplonitioiis  ojinic  slowly  (o  the 
kiit)wled«^e  of  contciniioraiv  ourtograplicrs.  In  tlic  year  of 
Cuitier's  return  fioni  his  st'coiul  voyage  (l."):)«i),  Al«»nso  de 
(/haves,  tlie  oHlcial  r!()smo<riaj)her  of  Spain,  made  a  [tlot  of  tlu; 
North  American  eoast.  Although  the  Spaniards  weie  kee[)- 
ing  elost;  watch  on  the  northern  explorations  of  their  rivals,  it 
is  apparent  that  CHiaves  had  not  heard  of  Cartier's  movements. 
This  mai)  of  Chaves  is  not  preserved  ;  hut  there  is  a  map 
by  CJutierrez  (looO),  known  to  us,  which  is  held  to  he  hased 
on  (Jhaves.  This  (iutierrez  map  gives  no  trace  of  the  French 
voyages;  nor  does  Oviedo,  the  Spanish  historian,  who  wrote; 
the  next  year  (lo->7)  with  Chaves's  map  before  him,  give  us 
any  ground  for  discrediting  tiic  map  of  Gutierrez  as  indicating 
the  features  of  that  by  Chaves.  The  next  year  (ir):>8),  the 
rising  young  Flemish  map-maker,  (Jerard  Mere;  tor,  made;  his 
earliest  map,  which  shows  that  no  tidings  of  the  Cartier  voy- 
ages had  yet  reached  the  Low  Countries.  He  did  not  even 
recognize  the  great  Scpiare  Ciulf,  which  had  aj)peared  in  tlu; 
Ptolemy  of  loll,  as  premonitory  of  the  (Julf  which  Cartier  hail 
circumnavigated,  though  three  years  later  Alercator  affords  a 
faint  suspicion  of  it  in  his  gores  of  lo-H. 

We  do  not  find  any  better  information  in  the  best  of  the 
contemporary  cosmographers.  Miinster  in  (iermany  (lo40) 
widened  a  little  the  passage  which  severed  Newfoundland 
from  the  main,  and  so  did  the  Italian  Vopellio  ;  but  l'lj)ius, 
making  the  globe  at  Rome,  in  1  ")42,  which  is  now  owned  by 
the  New  York  Historical  Society,  seenis  not  to  have  been  (^ven 
thus  imperfectly  informed.  The  Fiench  globe-maker,  who 
not  far   from    the  same   time    ma«le   the  sphere   preserved    at 


pp 


Nancy,  kiunv  only  onoiigh  tn  iniiko  a  j^roiip  df  islaiidH  beyond 
the  Newfonndliind  hanks.      • 

We  tniii  to  soint'thin*,'  indie  intimately  connc^cted  witli  Vav- 
tier's  own  work.  It  nii<,dit  go  without  saying  that  f'artier 
would  plot  his  own  tracks  :  hut  we  have  no  written  evidence 
that  he  did,  oil.  'r  Ihan  a  letter  of  his  grand-nephew  fifty  yeais 
later,  who  says  that  he  himself  had  inherited  one  such  map. 
We  must  look  to  three  or  four  mai)s,  made  within  five  years  of 
Cartier's  last  voyage,  and  which  have  come  down  to  us,  to  find 
how  the  last  charts  of  Cartie"  affected  cartographical  knowl- 
edg(!  in  certain  circles  in  Francj;,  and  ]»laced  the  geograjihy  of 
the  St.  Lawrence  on  a  liasis  which  was  not  improved  for  sixty 
years. 

Those  who  liave  compared  the  early  maps  find  the  oldest 
cartographical  record  which  we  have  of  Ca?  tier's  first  voyage 
(l")'54)in  a  (hn'ument  hy  .lean  Itotz,  dated  eight  years  latci-, 
and  preserved  in  the  liiitish  Museum.  Ilarrisse  thinks  that 
i»ack  of  this  Rotz  maj)thei(!  is  another,  known  as  the  Ilarleyan 
mappemonde,  which  is  deposited  in  the  same  collection.  Hut 
the  draft  l»v  Hotz  is  the  better  known  of  the  two.  Its  desij;ner 
is  held  to  be  a  Frenchman,  which  may  account  for  hisacquawit- 
j  lice  with  Maloiiiii  sources.  This  "  Hoke  of  I(irograp!i3%"  as 
liotz  calls  it,  contains  two  maps  which  interest  us.  One 
sliows  the  (lulf  of  St.  Lawrence  and  the  optning  into  tlu;  river, 
which  indicates  an  aciiuaintance  with  the  extent  of  Cartier's 
first  explorations  (1  ")84),  and  may  well  liave  been  made  soiie 
years  before  the  dat(!  of  tlie  nianuscrii»t  which  contains  it.  If 
its  outline  is  interpreted  correctly,  in  making  Anticosti  a  pe- 
ninsula connecting  with  the  southern  shore  of  the  St.  Lawrence 
liivcr,  it  is  a  further  jji'oof  that  a  foggy  distance  prevented  Car- 
tier  from  suspecting  that  he  was  crossing  the  main  channel  of 
the  St.  Lawrence,  when  he  sailed  from  Gaspe  to  the  Anticosti 
shores.  The  other  map  may  be  nearer  the  date  of  tlie  manu- 
script, for  it  carries  the  river  much  farther  from  the  gulf,  and 
indicates  a  knowledge  of  Cartier's  second  voyage. 

Two  years  later  (ir)44)  there  was  the  first  sign  in  an  engraved 
map  of  (^artiers  success,  —  the  now  famous  Cabot  mappe- 
monde, —  and  this  was  a  year  before;  any  narrative  of  his  secontl 
voyage  was  printed.  As  but  a  single  copy  is  known  of  both 
map  and  narrative,  it  is  j)ossible  that  the  publication  was  not 
welcome  to  tlu;  government,  and  the  editions  of  the  two  were 


suppr 
(ierm 
copy 


Is  beyond 

with  Car- 
it  f'iirtier 
ovidt'iioo 
il'ty  years 
«H;h  map. 
'  years  of 
IS,  to  fuu\ 
il  kiiowl- 
fraphy  of 
for  sixty 

lie  oldest 
t  voyag[e 
irs  later, 
inks  that 
Harle>'an 
»n.  Bnt 
desi<rner 
icqnawit- 

'pliy^"  i>« 

i.  One 
;he  river, 
C'artier's 
tde  soi'ie 
IS  it.  If 
sti  a  |)o- 
awiene(^ 
ted  (\ir- 
iinnel  of 
Uiticosti 
e  nianu- 
nlf,  iind 

ngraved 
mappe- 
« second 
of  both 
vas  not 
'o  were 


suppressed  as  far  as  i  onld  l»e.  The  solitary  map  was  found  in 
(lermany,  an<l  is  now  in  the  ^jreat  library  at  I'aris.  The  sole 
copy  of  the  "  Href  Keeit,"  published  at  I'aris  in  154">,  is  in  the 
British  Museum,  among  the  books  which  Thcmas  (Irenville 
collected. 

To  test  this  publiihed  narrative,  scholars  have?  had  recourse 
to  thre*;  manuscripts,  pr('serv«!d  in  tlu;  I'aris  Library  ;  varying 
.somewhat,  and  giving  evidenc;*;  that  before  the  text  was 
printed,  it  had  cintnlated  in  hand-written  copies,  all  made  ap- 
parently by  the  same  penman.  It  was  probably  from  the 
printed  text  that  both  Ilakluyt  and  Uamusio  ms.de  tluiir  ver- 
sions to  be  i)ublish(Ml  at  a  later  day. 

The  suppression,  if  there  was  such,  of  tht;  f'abot  map  is 
more  remarkable  ;  for  this  I'aris  copy  is  the  only  one  which  has 
come  down  to  us  out  of  several  editions  —  Ilarrisse  says  four 
—  in  which  it  appeared.  'I'his  nndtiplitdty  of  issue  is  inferred 
from  th?  description  of  copies  varying,  bnt  it  is  not  sure 
whether  these  changes  indicate  anything  more  than  tentative 
conditions  of  the  plates.  That  the  map  embodies  some  concep- 
tion of  the  C/artier  explorations  is  incontestable.  It  gives  vaguely 
a  shape  to  the  gulf  conformable  Ut  Cartier's  track,  and  makes 
evident  the  course  of  the  great  tributary,  as  far  as  Caitier 
explored  it.  There  are  many  signs  in  this  part  of  the  map, 
however,  that  ('artier's  own  plot  could  not  have  been  used  at 
first  hand,  and  the  map  in  its  confused  nomenclature  and  an- 
tiquated geograi)hical  notions  throughout  indicates  that  the 
draft  was  made  by  a  'prentice  hand.  The  profesc.ion  of  one  of 
its  1  jgends  —  of  late  critically  set  forth  fiom  the  study  of 
them  by  Dr.  Deane  in  our  Proceedings  (February,  18!>1)  — 
that  Sebastian  Cabot  was  its  author,  is  to  be  taken  with 
nuich  modification.  The  map  is  at  least  an  indication  that 
the  results  of  Cartier's  voyages  had  within  a  few  years  be- 
come in  a  certain  sense  j)ul)lic  property.  It  hai)})ens  that 
most  of  whivt  we  know  respecting  the  genesis  of  tlu;  maj)  is 
from  English  sources,  or  sourcies  which  point  to  Kiigland  ; 
but  the  map,  it  seems  probable,  was  made  in  Fianders,  and 
not  in  France,  nor  in  Spain,  the  country  with  which  (Cabot's 
olticial  standing  connected  him.  It  looks  very  much  like  a 
surreptitious  pul)lication,  which,  to  avctid  the  scrutiny  of 
the  Sj)anish  llydrographical  OHice,  had  been  made  beyond 
their  reach,  while  an  anonymous  publication  of  it  protected 


6 


the  irrospotisiblo  inakor  or  makers  from  oflicial  jinnoyanee. 
This  may  account  for  its  rarity,  ami  pcrliups  for  the  incompU'te- 
iicss  of  its  information. 

IJetior  information,  mixed  apparently  witli  some  knowledjje 
(lerive(l  from  the  I'ortnguese  voyaijfes,  —  and  certaiidy  clironi- 
elin^'  I*ortii}^uese  discoveries  in  other  parts  of  the  glol)e,  —  and 
so  present ini,'  some  hut  not  great  differences,  appears  in  an- 
other map  of  about  the  same  date,  Icnown  as  the  Nichohis  Val- 
hird  map.  When  Dr.  Kohl  brought  it  anew  to  the  attention 
of  scholars,  it  was  in  the  collection  of  Sir  Thomas  IMiillipps  in 
England  ;  but  there  is  reason  to  suppose  that  not  far  from  the 
date  of  its  tnaking,  it  had  been  owned  in  Dieppe.  The  maker 
of  it  may  have  profited  dirttctly  from  French  sources,  particu- 
larly in  the  embellishment  upon  it,  which  seems  to  represent 
events  in  Roberval's  experiences. 

There  is,  likewise,  another  map  of  this  period  which  is  still 
more  intimately  connected  with  Cartier's  movements;  indeed, 
it  can  hardly  have  been  made  independently  of  material  which 
he  furnished.  This  is  the  one  fashioned  by  the  order  of  the 
king  for  th(^  Dauphin's  instruction,  just  before  the  latter  suc- 
ceeded his  father  as  Ileiny  !I.  A  few  years  ago  Mr.  Major, 
of  the  Hritish  Museum,  deciphered  a  legend  upon  it,  which 
showed  that  it  was  the  handiwork  of  Pierre  Desceliers,  a 
Dieppe  map-maker  then  working  at  Arques.  This  fact,  as  well 
as  its  official  character,  brings  it  close  to  the  prime  sources  ; 
and  the  map  may  even  identify  these  sources  in  the  represen- 
tations of  Roberval  and  his  men,  as  they  are  grouped  on  the 
banks  of  the  St.  Lawrence.  I  am  informed  by  the  present 
owner,  the  Earl  of  Crawford  and  lialcarres,  that  an  attempt  at 
one  time  to  efface  the  legend  which  di  closes  its  authorship 
has  obscured  but  has  not  destroyed  the  lettering.  The  map 
formerly  belonged  to  Jomard,  the  geog.-apher. 

Theie  are  only  the  sketch  maps  of  Allefonsce  which  can  be 
traced  nearer  the  explorers  themselves  than  the  maps  already 
mentioned.  What  this  pilot  of  Roberval  drew  on  the  spot  we 
know  not,  but  he  attempted,  in  1545,  in  a  rude  way  to  draw 
ui)on  his  experiences  in  a  little  treatise.  This  manu.script  "  Cos- 
mographie,"  in  which  the  coast-lines  are  washed  in  at  the  top 
of  its  sheets,  is  preserved  in  the  National  Library  at  Paris. 
Seveial  modern  writers  have  used  them,  an.d  the  sketches  have 
been  more  than  once  copied.     Hibliographers  know  better,  how- 


ever, 

tions 

eneil 

death 

"  Les 

was 

rathc! 

able 

prej) 

duct! 

othei 

mam 

we  k 

chai)l 

copy 

that 


annoyance, 
incomplcte- 

knnwlcdire 

nly  elironi- 
ol)e,  -^  and 

•ears  in  iin- 
cholas  Val- 
R  attention 

liilli|)ps  in 
ir  from  the 
riie  maker 
3s,  j)artien- 
)  represent 

ieli  is  still 
s;  indeed, 
;iial  which 
der  of  the 
latter  suc- 
Ir.  i\f',ijor, 

it,  which 
sceliers,  a 
■ct,  as  well 
!  sources  ; 

represen- 
Bd  on  the 
le  present 
ttempt  at 
uthorship 
The  niaj) 

h  can  be 
■1  already 
i  sj)ot  we 

to  draw 
ipt ''  Cos- 

the  tojt 
it  Paris. 
lies  have 
ter,  how- 


ever, a  little  ehapliook,  which  ran  through  at  least  four  edi- 
tions in  till!  itit(!ival  before  new  int(;rest  in  Canada  was  iiwak- 
ened  by  Champlain.  It  was  lirst  published  in  lo;V.>  after  the 
<leath  of  AUefonsce  ;  and  his  name,  which  appears  in  the  title 
"  Les  voya^'es  avantureux  duCapitaine  Alfonce  Saintongeois," 
was  apparently  made  prominent  to  help  the  sale  of  the  book, 
rathiM-  than  to  indicate  the  intimate  connection  of  the  redoubt- 
able pilot  with  it.  Ilis  manuscript  "Cosmographie  "  had  been 
prepared  by  himself  for  the  royal  eye,  while  this  printed  [mt- 
duction,  which  was  issued  at  Poictiers,  was  dressed  up  by 
otheis  for  the  common  herd,  without  close  adherence  to  the 
manuscript.  A  popular  local  bard  sets  forth  pretty  much  all 
we  know  of  its  hero  in  some  preliminary  verses.  Like  all 
chapbooks,  the  littb;  volume  has  liecome  rare ;  and  when  a 
copy  was  sold  in  Dr.  Court's  collection  (188')),  it  was  clainuMl 
that  only  tlirec  copies  had  been  sold  in  France  in  thirty  years. 

The  most  prolific  map-maker  of  this  period  in  Euroi)e  was 
Haptista  Agnese  of  VenicL.  lie  had  a  deft  hand,  which  made 
his  porfolanoH  merchantable.  The  dexterity  of  their  drawing 
has  perhaps  enhanced  their  value  enouj,h  to  prevent  careless 
use  of  them,  so  that  they  are  not  infrequent  in  Italian  libraries, 
and  will  be  found  in  almost  all  the  large  collections  in  Europe. 
One  certainly  has  found  its  way  to  America,  and  is  preserved 
in  the  Carter-Brown  Library  at  Providence.  Though  Agnese 
was  making  these  maps  for  over  a  quarter  of  a  century,  be- 
ginning about  tiie  time  of  Cartier's  activit}',  he  never  much 
varied  from  the  conventional  types  which  successively  marked 
the  stages  of  geographical  knowledge.  lie  has  hardly  a  map 
which  can  be  accounted  a  turning-point  in  American  geog- 
raphy, and  his  drafts  simply  follow  the  prevailing  notions. 

Thus  it  was  that  for  sixteen  years  after  Cartier  and  Roberval 
had  finished  their  work,  the  French  public  was  made  acquainted 
only  with  the  "  Href  Recit  "  and  the  scant  narrative  to  which 
the  popularity  of  Allefonsce's  name  had  given  a  forced  currency. 
The  European  scholar  fared  better  than  the  provincial  French- 
man ;  for  the  third  volume  of  the  "Paccolta"  of  Ramusio, 
which  was  devoted  wholly  to  American  discovery,  had  appeared 
in  Venice  in  1556.  It  is  a  chief  source  still  to  be  consulted 
for  the  earliest  explorations  of  the  St.  Lawrence  region.  It  is 
here  that  we  find  an  account  of  that  "  (iran  Capitano,"  iden- 
tified   with    the   l)iei)pese  navigator,  Jean    Parmentier,  who 


vlsitcil  lluj  RiKH'uIfios  ici^ioii  ill  tlif  rally  yviUH  of  tliiit  rt'ii 
tiny  llt'JT,  too,  wi;  (hM'ivr  a  seiiiit  kiiowltMl^'i)  of  Dciiys  hikI 
AulxMt,  as  already  iiuMifioiii'il.  Hut  it  is  conccniiii}^'  the  liist 
\ityapi  of  (3arti(M'  that  liiiiinisio  Ih'I|>s  iis  most.  WIuto  Im 
L,M)t  liis  rcc'oids  of  tliat  ciitciprise  (tf  ir):»4,  it  is  not  oasy  to  coii- 
ji'etiirc,  and  wljal  lii!  says  icinaiiUMl  for  a  loiij^  while  tliu  sum  of 
all  that  was  kmnvii  coiiffriiiiig  it.  That  tluao  wcMe  orit^inally 
scfveral  maimscript  texts  of  this  narrative,  varyim;  eiioii<r|i  in 
the  eopyiiij^  to  make  (lifl'eremtos  that    hecanie  <listini;iiishal)le. 


t   1 


la-^l 


i|>|)eai's  to  he  certain  ;  Init  il   is  not  so  e 


isy  to  trae(^  them  dis- 


tiiujlively  in  tin;  various  printed  tuxts  whi(Oi  have  been  puh- 
lished.  'ilni  text  in  Uamnsio  v/as  without  d(nil)t  nsi  d  by  .John 
Klorio  in  makinu;  tli(  early  ICnylish  tianslation  (liOiulon,  l/iSO), 
which  is  the  source  )f  most  that  has  appeared  in  that  lani^ua^e 
res|)ectinu[  the  voyatje.  A  Norman  pui)lislier  at  Koueii  printed 
a  Kr(Mich  text,  aiu'  it  is  not  (piite  certain  that  he  used  itamusio. 
It.  has  l)(!(!n  suspected  that,  in  preteiidinu;  to  make  a  transla- 
tion, this  editor  may  possibly  have  used  an  ollicial  narrative, 
and  that  his  pretence  was  int<!nded  to  conceal  a  surr(!ptitious 
use  of  a  forbidd(Mi  paper.  When  Tross  reprinted  this  little 
book  (Paris,  iStJ.V,  he  could  lind  only  one  co|)y,  and  that  was 
in  tlu!  t,n(fat  Paris  hibiary  ;  but  llarrisse  later  discoveretl  a 
copv  in  the  Ste.  (Icnevieve  Library.  The  fact  that  tlie  book 
has  iKNirly  passcul  out  (»f  siijiit  might  indicate,  as  with  the 
"  liref  llecit,"  that  there  was  either  a  snjipression  of  it  or  an 
inordinately  hard  use  of  it  by  readers.  Two  yciars  after  pub- 
lishing^ this  '•  Discours  du  Voyai^c  "  (18(17),  Tross  surprised 
the  critics  by  publishinjjf  a  "  Relation  originale,"  as  if  it  were 
Cartier's  own  nanative  of  this  first  voyajjfe.  The  arguments 
of  Michelant,  the  editor,  in  supporting  this  view  of  its  authen- 
ticity are  strong,  but  luudly  conclusive.  This  precious  manu- 
script was  discovered  in  the  Paris  Library  in  1867,  having 
{)reviously  escaped  notice. 

In  the  year  before  the  appearance  of  the  American  section 
of  liamusio,  and  probably  two  years  after  that  Italian  editor 
had  gathered  his  material,  the  Spanish  historian,  Gomara, 
showed  in  hi.s  "  Ilistoria  (ireneral  "  (Saragossa,  loo5),  that 
intelligence  of  Cartier's  exploits  had  reached  him  in  sonic 
confused  form.  Indeed,  (lomara  is  rarely  critical  in  what  he 
oftcrs.  It  will  be  rememl)ered  that  Cartier  had  given  the 
name  of  "  Sainct  Laurens  '"  to  u  -.mail  estuary  in  the  gulf,  and 


iianiiM 


le 

rr.; 


tl 

ir.r,.-,, 

Loren 

CathaJ 

(;alled| 

VV( 

I)esc(! 

own 

studei 


>f  that  ct'ii 
Dt'iiyH  HI  111 

II},'  tli(!  lirst 
Wlicro  Im' 

iiisy  to  c(ni- 
tliu  sum  of 

!  oiii^Miiiilly 

•  MlOllirll    ill 

iL;uisliiil)l(', 
!  tlioin  dis- 
Ix'fii  piih- 
<1  l).v  .John 
Jon,  loSO), 
t  hiiiLjiiii^e 
(Ml  priiUcd 
1  liiiiiiiisio. 
u  traiishi- 
naiTiitive, 
I'l'cptitioiis 
thi.s  little 
1  that  way 
covered  a 
the  hook 
with   the 
)f  it  or  an 
alter  ])ul)- 
siirjjrised 
it'  it  were 
I'^'unients 
(s  authen- 
)ns  nianii- 
7,  having 

m  section 

an  editor 

Goniara, 

")5),   that 

in  some 

what  he 

iven    the 

gulf,  and 


it  has  never  been  qiiltc  eHtaldished  wlieii  the  same  name 
gained  currency  as  the  aj)iiellation  of  the  gull"  itstdl",  and  of 
the  great  river  of  Canada.  Nevertheless  (lomara  writes  in 
l.^)!"),'},  or  perhaps  a  year  earlier,  that  *'  a  great  river  called  San 
Loren(;o,  which  some  think  an  arm  of  the  sea  [t.  e.  leading  to 
Cathay]  has  been  sailed  U[)  for  two  hundn'd  leagues,  and  is 
called  by  some  the  Strait  of  the  Three  Hrothers." 

Wo  may  consider  that  I'roni  the  Kotz,  Vallard,  Cabot,  and 
Desceliers  maps,  pretty  nearly  all  the  ground  that  (^artier's 
own  maps  c(»uld  have  disclosed  is  deducihle  by  the  careful 
student,  and  that  a  largii  part  of  our  history  of  this  obscure 
period  is  necessarily  derived  from  such  studies.  Now,  what 
was  the  eflFect  of  these  cartographical  records  upon  the  maps 
of  the  St.  Lawrence  for  the  rest  of  that  century  ? 

This  ([uestion  brings  us  to  consider  nearly  all  the  leading 
European  cartographers  of  the  sixteenth  century,  tfl  whatever 
maritime  peoples  they  belong.  The  most  famou."  and  learned  of 
the  (irennan  cosmographers,  Sebastian  Minister,  contented  him- 
self with  insulariziiig  a  region  which  he  associated  with  the 
earlier  Cortereal.  Pedro  Medina,  the  leading  Spanish  writer  on 
seamanship,  in  his  "  Arte  de  Navegar,"  and  in  other  books,  for 
a  score  of  years  after  this,  used  a  map  on  which  there  was 
merely  a  conventional  gulf  and  river.  Baptista  Agnese  was 
continuing  to  figure  the  coast  about  Newfoundland  in  absolute 
ignorance  of  the  French  discoveries  of  ten  years  before. 

We  are  in  1546  first  introduced  to  Giacomo  Gastaldi,  a 
Venetian  map-maker  of  reputation  throughout  Italy.  He 
gives  us  a  map  which  was  included  in  Lafreri's  atlas.  It  looks 
like  a  distinct  recognition  of  Cartier,  in  a  long  river  which 
flows  into  a  bay  behind  an  island.  This  is  the  more  remark- 
able because,  wlien  he  was  employed  two  years  later  to  make 
the  maps  for  the  Venetian  edition  of  Ptolemy  (l')48),  he  re- 
verted to  the  old  pre-Cariier  notions  of  an  archipelago  and 
rudimentary  rivers. 

When  Ramusio  was  gathering  his  American  data  at  this 
time,  he  depended  on  an  old  friend,  Frascastoro,  to  supply 
the  illustrative  maps.  This  gentleman,  now  in  advanced 
years,  was  living  on  his  estate  near  Verona,  and  in  correspond- 
ence with  geographical  students  throughout  Europe.  Oviedo 
had   sent   some    navigator's  charts  to  him   from   Spain,  and 

2 


10 


Ramiisio  tells  iis  tliat  siwiilar  information  had  come  to  him 
from  France;  relative  to  the  discoveries  in  New  France. 
These  charts,  placed  hy  Frascastoro  in  Ramusio's  hands,  were 
hy  this  editor  committed  to  Gastaldi.  The  result  was  the 
cjeneral  map  of  America  which  appears  in  the  third  volume  of 
the  "  Raccolta,"  This  map  is  singularly  inexpressive  for  the 
Haccalaos  region.  Something  more  definite  is  revealed  in  an- 
()th(;r  map,  more  canfined  in  its  range.  A  study  of  this  last  map 
makes  out;  feel  as  if  the  rudimentar}'  rivers  of  the  Ptolemy 
maj)  (1")4H)  had  suggested  a  network  of  rivers,  stretching 
iidand.  It  has  one  feature  in  the  shoals  about  Sahle  Island 
so  peculiar  and  so  closely  resend)ling  that  feature  in  Rotz's 
map,  that  Gastaldi  must  have  worked  with  that  map  before 
him,  or  he  must  have  used  the  sources  of  that  map.  With  this 
exception  there  is  absolutely  nothing  in  the  map  showing  any 
connection  with  the  cariography  of  the  Cartier-Roberval  ex- 
pedition. These  features  stand,  in  fact,  for  earlier  notions, 
and  are  made  to  illustrate  the  narrative  of  the  "Gran 
Capitano." 

There  is  a  Portuguese  map  by  Johannes  Freire,  which  must 
have  been  based  on  Cartier's  second  voyage,  for  it  leaves  unde- 
veloped the  west  coast  of  Newfoundland,  which  Cartier  followed 
in  1584.  Another  Poituguese  map,  which  at  one  time  was  owned 
by  Jomard,  shows  acquaintance  with  both  the  first  and  second 
voyages  of  Cartier,  as  does  the  Portuguese  atlas,  with  French 
leanings,  which  is  ))reserved  in  the  Archives  of  the  Marine  at 
Paris,  and  is  ascribed  to  Guillaume  le  Testu.  A  popular  map 
by  Rellero,  used  in  various  Antwerp  publications  of  this  period, 
utterly  ignores  the  F'rench  discoveries. 

The  map  of  Homem  in  1558  is  an  interesting  one.  It  is  in 
an  atlas  of  this  Portuguese  hydrographer,  preserved  in  the 
British  Museum.  It  is  strongly  indicative  of  independent 
knowledge,  but  whence  it  came  is  not  clear.  He  worked  in 
Venice,  a  centre  of  such  knowledge  at  this  time  ;  and  Homem's 
map  is  a  proof  of  the  way  in  which  nautical  intelligence  failed 
to  establish  itself  in  the  Atlantic  seaports,  but  rather  found 
recognition  for  the  benefit  of  later  scholars  in  this  Adriatic 
centre.  It  is  in  this  map,  for  instance,  that  we  get  the  earliest 
recognizable  plotting  cf  the  Bay  of  Fundy.  But  with  all  his 
alertness,  the  material  which  Ramusio  had  already  used  re- 
specting Cartier's  first  voyage  seems  to  have  escaped  him,  or 


11 


lome  to  him 
t'W  France, 
hands,  were 
111  It  was  the 
<1  volume  of 
isive  for  the 
ealed  in  an- 
;his  last  map 
he  Ptolemy 

stretchinsr 

5al)le  Island 

e  in  Rotz's 

map  before 

With  this 
howing  any 
oberval  ex- 
ier  notions, 
the    "  Gran 

which  must 
aves  unde- 
ier  followed 
!  was  owned 
and  second 
nth  French 
Marine  at 
opular  map 
this  jjerind, 

3-  It  is  in 
ved  in  the 
idependent 
worked  in 
d  Homem's 
Bnce  failed 
ther  found 
s  Adriatic 
the  earliest 
ith  all  his 
y  used  re- 
id  him,  or 


i 


perhaps  Homem  failed  to  understand  that  navigator's  track 
where  it  revealed  the  inside  coast  of  Newfoundland.  What 
he  found  in  any  of  the  an  unts  of  the  Carticr  voyages  to 
warrant  his  making  the  nouli  bank  of  the  St.  Lawrence  an 
archipelago  skirting  the  Arctic  Sea,  is  hard  to  say  ;  but  Homem 
is  not  the  only  one  who  developed  this  notion.  We  have  seen 
that  Allefonsce  believed  that  the  Saguenay  conducted  to  such 
a  sea,  and  there  are  other  features  of  that  pilot's  sketches 
which  are  consonant  with  such  a  view  ;  while  a  network  of 
straits  and  channels  pervading  this  Canadian  region  is  a  fea- 
ture of  some  engraved  maps  at  a  considerably  later  day. 
Homem  living  in  Venice  most  probably  was  in  consultation 
with  Ramusio,  and  maj-  have  had  access  to  the  store  of  maj)s 
which  Frascastoro  submitted  \o  Gastaldi.  Indeed  Ramusio 
intimates,  in  the  introduction  to  his  third  volume,  that  this 
Canadian  region  may  yet  be  found  to  be  cut  up  into  islands, 
and  he  says  that  the  reports  of  Cartier  had  left  this  uncertainty 
in  his  mind.  The  stories  which  Cartier  had  heard  of  great 
waters  lying  beyond  the  points  he  had  reached,  had  doubtless 
something  to  do  with  these  fancies  of  the  map-makers. 

When  the  learned  Italian  Ruscelli  printed  his  translation  of 
Ptolemy  at  Venice  (1501),  he  rdded  his  own  maps,  for  he  was 
a  professional  cartographer.  He  also  apparently  profited  by 
Ramusio's  introduction  to  the  collection  of  Frascastoro ;  for  the 
map  which  he  gave  of  "  Tierra  nueva"  reverted  to  the  same 
material  of  the  pre-Carticr  period  which  had  been  used  by 
Gastaldi,  showing  that  he  either  was  ignorant  of  the  claims  of 
Cartier's  discoveries  or  that  he  rejected  them.  Ruscelli  clung 
to  this  belief  pertinaciously,  and  never  varied  his  map  in  suc- 
cessive editions  for  a  dozen  years  ;  and  during  this  interval 
Agnese  (1504)  and   Porcacchi  (1572)  copied  him. 

We  have  two  maps  in  1500  in  which  the  Cartier  voyages 
are  recognized,  but  in  quite  different  ways.  The  map  of 
Nicolas  des  Liens  of  Dieppe  was  acquired  by  the  great  library 
of  Paris  in  1857,  and  the  visitor  there  to-day  can  see  it  under 
glass  in  the  geographical  department.  It  is  very  pronounced 
in  the  record  of  Cartier ;  for  his  name  is  displayed  along  the 
shore  of  a  broad  sound,  which  is  made  to  do  duty  for  the  St. 
Lawrence.  The  other  is  the  map  of  Zaltiere,  with  an  inscrij)- 
tion,  in  which  the  author  claims  to  have  received  late  informa- 
tion from  the  French.    In  this  map  the  St.  Lawrence  is  merely 


12 


a  long  waving  line,  and  the  river  is  made  to  flow  on  each  side 
of  a  large  island  into  a  bay  stndded  with  islands. 

Three  or  four  years  later  we  come  to  the  crowning  work  of 
Gerard  Mercator  in  his  great  planisphere  of  1569  ;  and  a  year 
later  to  the  atlas  of  the  famous  Flemish  geographer  who  did 
so  much  to  revolutionize  cartography,  —  Abraham  Ortelius. 
The  great  bay  has  now  become,  with  Mercator,  the  Gulf  of  St. 
Lawrence  (Sinus  Lanrentn);  but  the  main  river  is  left  without 
a  name,  and  is  carried  far  west  be^'ond  Hochelaga  (Montreal) 
to  a  water-shed,  which  separates  the  great  interior  valley  of 
the  Continent  from  the  Pacific  slope.  Here  was  what  no  one 
had  before  attempted  in  interpretation  of  the  vague  stories 
which  Cartier  had  heard  from  the  Indians.  Mercator  makes 
what  is  a[)parently  the  Ottawa  open  a  water-way,  as  Cartier 
could  have  fancied  it,  when  he  gazed  from  the  summit  of 
Mont  Royale.  This  passage  carried  the  imagination  into  the 
great  country  of  the  Saguenay,  which  the  Indians  told  of,  as 
bounding  on  a  large  body  of  fresh  water.  It  seems  easy  to 
suppose  that  this  was  an  intei-pretation  of  that  route  which  in 
the  next  generation  conducted  many  a  Jesuit  to  the  Georgian 
Bay,  and  so  developed  the  upper  lakes  long  before  the  shores 
of  Lake  Erie  were  comprehended.  Not  one  of  the  earlier 
maps  had  divined  this  possible  solution  of  Cartier's  problem  ; 
and  Mercator  did  it,  so  far  as  we  can  now  see,  with  nothing  to 
aid  him  but  a  study  of  Cartier's  narrative,  or  possibly  of  Car- 
tier's  maps  or  data  copied  from  them.  Ifc  was  one  of  those 
feats  of  prescience  through  comparative  studies  which  put 
that  Flemish  geographer  at  the  head  of  his  profession.  By  a 
similar  insight  he  was  the  first  to  map  out  a  great  interior 
valley  to  the  continent,  separated  from  the  Atlantic  slope  by 
a  mountainous  range  that  could  well  stand  for  the  Alleghanies. 
Dr.  Kohl  suggests  that  Mercator  might  have  surmised  this 
eastern  water-shed  of  the  great  interior  valley,  by  studying 
the  reports  of  De  Soto  in  his  passage  to  the  Mississippi,  during 
the  very  year  when  Cartier  and  Roberval  were  developing  the 
great  rorthern  valley.  There  was  yet  no  conception  of  the 
way  in  which  these  two  great  valleys  so  nearly  touched  at  va- 
rious points  that  the  larger  was  eventually  to  be  entered  from 
the  lesser. 

Before   Mercator's  death  (1594)  he  felt  satisfied  that  the 
great  mass  of  fresh  water,  to  which  the  way  by  the  Ottawa 


18 


IS 


>g 


pointed,  connected  with  the  Arctic  seas.  This  he  made  evi- 
dent by  his  globe-map  of  1587.  Earlier,  in  l^TO,  he  had  con- 
veniently hidden  the  nucertainty  by  partly  coverinij  the  limits 
of  snch  water  by  a  vignette.  Hakluyt  in  the  same  year  (ir)87) 
thought  it  best  to  leave  undefined  the  connections  of  such  a 
fresh-water  sea.  The  map-makers  struggled  for  many  years 
over  this  uncertain  nortiiern  lake,  whicli  Mercator  had  been 
the  first  to  suggest  from  Cartier's  data.  Ortelius  also  (1570, 
1575,  etc.)  was  induced  to  doubt  the  fresh  character  of  this 
sea,  and  made  it  a  mere  gulf  of  the  Arctic  Ocean,  stretched 
toward  the  south.  In  this  he  was  followed  by  I'opellinii're 
(1582),  Gallaeus  (1585),  Miinster  (1595),  Linschoten  (15!»8), 
Bottero  (1603),  and  others.  It  is  fair  to  observe,  however, 
that  Ortelius  in  one  of  his  maps  (1575)  has  shunned  the  con- 
clusion, and  Metellus  (1600)  was  simihirly  cautious  when  In; 
used  the  customary  vignette  to  cover  what  was  doubtful. 
There  was  at  the  same  time  no  lack  of  believers  in  the  fresh- 
water theory,  as  is  apparent  in  the  map  of  Judaeis  (1508), 
DeBry  (1596),  Wytfliet  (1597).  and  Quadus  (1600),  not  to 
name  others.  These  theorizers,  while  they  connected  it  with 
a  salt  northern  sea,  made  current  for  a  while  the  name  of  Lake 
Conibas,  as  applied  to  the  fresh-water  basin.  This  body  of 
water  seemed  in  still  later  maps  after  Hudson's  time  to  shift 
its  position,  and  was  merged  in  the  great  bay  discovered  by 
that  navigator.  It  was  not  till  a  suggestion  appeared  in  one 
of  the  maps  of  the  Arnheim  Ptolemy  of  1597,  made  more 
emphatic  by  Molineaux  in  1600,  that  this  flitting  interior  sea 
was  made  to  be  the  source  of  the  St.  Lawrence,  while  it  was 
at  the  same  time  supposed  to  have  some  outlet  in  the  Arctic 
Ocean.  The  great  interior  lakes  were  then  foreshadowed  in 
the  "  Lacke  of  Tadenac,  the  bounds  whereof  are  unknown," 
as  Molineaux's  legend  reads. 

The  English  indeed  had  become  active  in  this  geographical 
quest  very  shortly  after  Mercator  and  Ortelius  had  well  es- 
tablished their  theories  in  the  public  mind.  Sir  Humphrey 
Gilbert  l.ad  not  indeed  penetrated  this  region  ;  but  when  he 
published  his  map  in  1576  he  had  helped  to  poj)u]arize  a  be- 
lief in  a  multitudinous  gathering  of  islands  in  what  was  now 
called  the  land  of  Canada.  Frobisher's  explorations  were  far- 
ther to  the  north,  and  his  map  (1578)  professed  that  in  these 
higher   latitudes   there    was   a   way   through    the   continent. 


14 


H 

I 


^1, 


^  i 


Hakluyt,  in  his  "  Wosterne  Planting,"  tells  us  that  the  bruit  of 
FroMsli'^r's  voyitge  had  reached  Oitelius,  and  had  induced  that 
geographer  to  come  to  England  in  1577,  "  to  prye  and  looke 
into  the  secretes  of  P'robishcr's  Voyadge."  Hakluyt  furtber 
says  that  this  "  greate  geographer "  told  him  at  this  time 
"  that  if  the  wanes  of  Flaunders  had  not  bene,  they  of  the 
liOwe  (^ountries  had  meant  to  have  discovered  those  partes  of 
America  and  the  north vveste  straite  before  this  tyme."  Hak- 
luyt had  it  much  at  heart  to  invigorate  an  English  spirit  of 
discovery,  and  the  treatise  just  quoted  was  written  for  that 
purpose.  ""  Yf  wee  doe  procrastinate  the  plantinge,"  he  says, 
"  the  Frenche,  the  Normans,  the  Brytons  or  the  Duche  or 
some  other  nation  will  not  onely  prevente  us  of  the  mightie 
Hayo  of  St.  Lawrence,  where  tbey  have  gotten  the  starte  of 
us  already,  thoughe  wee  had  the  same  revealed  to  us  by 
bookes  published  and  printed  in  Englishe  before  them."  It  is 
not  easy  to  satisfy  one's  self  as  to  what  Hakluyt  refers,  when 
he  implies  that  previous  to  Cartier's  vo^^age  there  had  been 
English  books  making  reference  to  the  St.  Lawrence  Gulf. 
Modern  investigators  have  indeed  in  English  books  found  only 
the  scantiest  mention  of  American  explorations  before  Eden 
printed  his  translation  of  Miinster  in  15r)3,  nearly  twenty  years 
after  Cartier's  first  voyage.  The  late  Dr.  Charles  Deane  in 
commenting  on  Hakluyt's  words  could  give  no  satisfactor}'  ex- 
planation of  what  seems  to  be  their  plain  meaning. 

The  year  before  Hakluyt  wrote  this  sentence  lie  had  given 
up  an  intention  of  joining  in  Gilbert's  last  expedition,  and 
had  gone  to  Paris  (1588)  as  chaplain  to  Sir  Edward  Staf- 
ford. While  in  that  city  we  find  him  busy  with  "  diligent 
inquiries  of  such  things  as  may  yeeld  any  light  unto  our 
westerne  discoverie,"  making  to  this  end  such  investigations 
as  he  could  resi)ecting  curi-ent  and  contemplated  movements 
of  the  Spanish  and  French.  In  this  same  essay  on  "  Westerne 
Planting"  Hakluyt  drew  attention  to  what  he  understood 
Ciirtier  to  say  of  a  river  that  can  be  followed  for  three 
months  "southwarde  from  Hochelaga."  Whether  this  refers 
to  some  Indian  story  of  a  way  by  Lake  Champlain  and  the 
FFudson,  or  to  the  longer  route  from  the  Iroquois  country 
to  thfl  Ohio  and  Mississippi,  may  be  a  question  ;  if  indeed 
it  may  not  mean  that  the  St.  Lawrence  itself  bent  towards 
the    south    and  found   its   rise   in    a   warmer   clime,  as    the 


15 


cartojirraphors  who  were  contemporaries  of  Hakluyt  made 
it.  Hakluyt  further  translates  what  Cartier  makes  Donna- 
cona  iuul  other  Indians  say  of  these  distant  parts  where 
the  people  are  "  elad  with  clothes  as  wee  [the  French]  aic, 
very  honest,  and  many  inhahited  townes,  and  that  they  had 
create  store  of  golde  and  redde  copper;  and  that  wilhin 
the  land  beyonde  the  said  firste  ryver  unto  llochelaoa  and 
Saguynay,  ys  an  Hand  envyroned  rounde  ahoute  with  that 
and  other  ryvers,  and  that  there  is  a  sea  of  freshe  water 
founde,  as  they  have  hearde  say  of  those  of  Saguenay,  there 
was  never  man  hearde  of,  that  founde  vnto  the  hegynnynge 
and  ende  thereof,"  Here  is  the  warrant  that  Mercator  and  his 
followers  found  for  their  sea  of  sweet  water.  Hakluyt  adds  : 
"  In  the  Frenche  origiiuiU,  which  I  sawo  in  the  Kinges  library 
at  Paris,  yt  is  further  put  downe,  that  Donnacona,  the  Kinge 
of  Canada,  in  his  barke  had  traueled  to  that  contrie  wher<; 
cynamon  and  cloves  are  had."  Hakluyt,  with  the  tendency  of 
his  age,  could  not  help  associating  this  prolonged  passage  with 
a  new  way  to  Cathay,  and  he  cites  in  sui)port  "  the  judg- 
niente  of  Gerardus  Mercator,  that  excellent  geographer,  in  a 
letter  of  his,"  which  his  sou  had  shown  to  Hakluyt,  saying, 
"  There  is  no  doubte  but  there  is  a  streighte  and  shorte 
waye  open  unto  the  west,  even  to  Cathaio."  Hakluyt  then 
closes  his  list  of  reasons  for  believing  in  this  ultimate  \y,iii- 
sage  by  adding,  in  the  words  of  Ramusio,  that  "  if  tlie 
Frenchmen  in  this  their  Nova  Francia  woulde  have  dis- 
covered upp  farther  into  the  lande  towardes  the  west 
northwest  partes,  they  shoulde  have  founde  the  sea  and 
have  sailed  to  Cathaio." 


Before  Hakluyt  published  any  map  of  his  own,  there  were 
two  English  maps  which  became  prominent.  In  1580  Dr. 
John  Dee  presented  to  Queen  Elizabeth  a  map  which  is 
preserved  in  the  British  Museum.  It  has  nothing  to  dis- 
tinguish it  from  the  other  maps  of  the  time,  which  show  a 
St.  Lawrence  River  greatly  prolonged.  The  second  map  was 
far  more  distinctive  and  more  speculative.  Ruscelli  in  loOl 
and  Martines  in  1578  had  represented  the  country  south  of 
the  Lower  St.  Lawrence  as  an  island,  with  a  channel  on 
the  west  of  it,  connecting  the  Atlantic  with  the  great  river 
of  Canada.     This   view    was   embodied    by  Master    Michael 


16 


liok  ill  this  other  map,  in  union  with  other  pr3val«nt  notions 
ill  ready  mentioned,  of  a  nei«,'liboring  archipehicfo  betwee" 
the  St.  Lawrence  and  the  Aretie  waters.  In  this  way  Lok 
made  the  jrreat  river  rather  an  ocean  inlet  than  an  affluent 
of  the  gulf.  Hakluyt  adopted  this  map  in  his  little  "  Divers 
Voyages"  (1582)  to  illustrate  an  account  of  the  voyage  of 
Veirazano,  and  curiously  did  so,  because  there  is  no  trace 
of  Verrazano  in  the  map  except  the  great  western  sea,  which 
had  long  passed  into  oblivion  with  other  cartographers. 

When  llakluyt  again  came  before  the  public  in  an  edition 
of  the  eight  decades  of  Peter  Martyr's  "  De  orbe  novo,"  which 
he  i)rinted  at  Paris  in  1587,  he  added  a  map  bearing  the  initials 
"  F.  G."  This  map  may  be  supposed  to  embody  the  conclusions 
which  Hakluyt  had  reached  after  his  years  of  collecting  mate- 
rial. He  had,  as  we  have  seen,  already  reviewed  the  field  in 
his  "  Westerne  Planting,"  where  he  had  adopted  the  Mercator 
theory  of  the  access  by  the  Ottawa  to  the  great  fresh-water 
lake  of  the  Indian  tales. 

Jaccjues  Nciel,  a  grand-nephe  v  of  Cartier,  writing  from  St. 
Malo  in  1587,  refers  to  this  F.  G.  map  of  Hakluyi,  as  putting 
down  "  the  great  lake  "  of  Cimada  much  too  far  to  the  north 
to  1)0  in  accordance  with  one  of  Cartier's  maps  which  he  pro- 
fessed to  have.  This  Noel  had  been  in  the  country,  and  re- 
ported the  Indians  as  saying  that  the  great  lake  was  ten  days 
above  the  rapids  (near  Montreal).  He  had  been  at  the  rapids, 
and  reported  them  to  be  in  44°  north  latitude. 

In  1590  llakluyt  was  asking  Ortelius,  through  u  relative  of 
tlie  Antwer[)  geographer  then  living  in  London,  to  publish  a 
map  of  the  region  north  of  Mexico  and  towards  the  Arctic 
seas.  Ortelius  signified  his  willingness  to  do  so,  if  Hakluyt 
would  furnish  the  data.  In  the  same  year  the  English  geo- 
grapher wrote  to  Ortelius  at  Antwerp,  urging  him,  if  he  made 
a  new  map,  to  insert  "  the  strait  of  the  Three  Brothers  in  its 
proper  place,  as  there  is  still  hope  of  discovering  it  some  day, 
and  we  may  b}-  placing  it  in  the  map  remove  the  error  of  those 
cosmographers  who  do  not  indicate  it."  It  is  apparent,  by 
Hakluyt's  accompanying  diawing,  :hat  he  considered  the  "  Fre- 
tum  trium  fratrum  "  to  be  in  latitude  70"  north. 

There  was  a  temptation  to  the  geographer  to  give  a  striking 
character  to  the  repoi'ts  or  plots  of  returned  navigators.  Mer- 
cator compliments  Ortelius  on  his  soberness  in  using  such  plots, 


17 

and   compbins  that  geographical   truth  is  much  corrupted  by 
map-makers,  and  that  tliose  of  Italy  are  specially  bad. 

The  maps  that  succeeded,  down  to  the  time  when  Cham- 
plain  made  a  new  geography  for  the  valley  of  the  St.  Lawrence, 
added  little  to  the  conceptions  already  mastered  by  the  chief 
cartographers.  The  idea  of  the  first  explorers  that  America 
was  but  the  eastern  limits  of  Asia  may  be  said  to  have  van- 
ished at  the  same  time ;  for  the  map  of  Myritius  of  near  this 
date  (ir)87,  1590)  is  perhaps  the  last  of  the  maps  to  hold  to 
the  belief. 


While  all  this  speculative  geography  was  forming  and  disap- 
pearing with  an  obvious  tendency  to  a  true  conception  of  the 
physical  realities  of  the  problem,  there  was  scarcely  any  at- 
tempt made  to  help  solve  the  question  by  exploration.  There 
was  indeed  a  continuance  of  the  fishing  voyages  of  the  Nor- 
mans and  Bretons  to  the  banks,  and  the  fishermen  ran  into  the 
inlets  near  the  Gulf  to  dry  their  fish  and  barter  trinkets  with 
the  natives  for  walrus  tusks  ;  but  we  find  no  record  of  any  one 
turning  the  point  of  Vraspe  and  going  up  the  river.  There  was 
»  at  the  same  time  no  official  patronage  of  exploration.  The 
politics  of  France  were  far  too  unquiet.  Henry  II.  had  as 
much  as  he  could  do  to  maintain  his  struggles  with  Charles  V. 
and  Philip  IT.  St.  Quentin  and  Gravelines  carried  French 
chivalry  down  to  the  dust.  The  persecution  of  the  Protes- 
tants in  the  brief  reign  of  Francis  II.,  the  machinations  of 
Catharine  de'  Medici  and  the  supremacy  of  the  Guises  kept 
attention  too  constantly  upon  domestic  hazards  to  permit  the 
government  to  glance  across  the  sea.  All  efforts  under 
Charles  IX.  to  secure  internal  peace  were  but  transient. 
Ever}'^  interval  of  truce  between  the  rival  religions  only  gave 
opportunities  for  new  conspiracies.  The  baleful  night  of  St. 
Bartholomew  saw  thirty  thousand  Huguenots  plunged  into 
agony  and  death.  The  wars  of  the  League  which  followed 
were  but  a  prolonged  combat  for  Huguenot  existence.  Henry 
III.  during  fifteen  years  of  blood  played  fast  and  loose  with 
both  sides.  Henry  IV.  fought  at  Arques  and  Ivry  to  preserve 
hit  crown,  and  abjui'ed  his  faith  in  the  end  as  a  better  policy 
to  the  same  end.  At  last  these  tumultuous  years  yielded  to 
the  promulgation  of  the  famous  edict  at  Nantes  (April  1"), 

3 


18 


loOH),  jiiid  in  the  rest  wliicli  came  later  the  tiuies  grew  ripe 
for  new  enterprises  l)ey()n(l  t!ie  sea. 

We  have  seen  that  it  was  to  tlie  labors  of  Hakluyt  and 
Ramusio  dnrintj  these  sixty  years  that  we  owe  a  large  part  of 
the  current  knowledge  of  what  were  then  the  last  official  ex- 
peditions to  Canada.  That  private  enterprise  did  not  cease  to 
connect  the  French  jjorts  with  the  lishery  and  trade  of  the 
gulf  and  its  neighboring  ports  is  indeed  certain,  though  (ijir- 
neau  speaks  of  this  interval  as  that  of  a  teni}K)rary  abandon- 
ment of  Canada.  Gosselin  and  other  later  investigators  have 
found  entries  made  of  numerous  local  outfits  for  voyages  from 
Ilonfleur  and  other  harbors.  Su  ;h  mariners  never,  however,  so 
far  as  we  know,  coniemplated  the  making  of  discoveries.  Old 
fishermen  are  noted  as  having  grown  gray  in  forty  years'  ser- 
vice on  the  coast :  and  there  is  reason  to  believe  that  during 
some  seasons  as  many  as  three  or  four  hundred  fishing-crafts 
may  have  dipped  to  their  anchors  hereal>outs,  and  half  of  them 
French.  Some  of  them  added  the  pursuit  of  trade,  and 
chased  the  walrus.  Breton  babies  grew  to  know  the  cunning 
skill  which  in  leisure  hours  was  bestowed  by  these  mariners 
on  the  ivory  trifles  which  amused  their  liouseholds.  Norman 
maidens  were  decked  with  the  fur  which  their  brothers  had 
secured  from  the  Esquimaux.  Parkman  found,  in  a  letter  of 
Rlenende^  to  Philip  of  Spain,  that  from  as  far  south  as  the 
Potomac  Indian  canoes  crawled  northward  along  the  coast, 
till  they  found  Frenchmen  in  the  Newfoundland  waters  to 
buy  their  peltries.  Breard  has  of  late,  in  his  "  A[arine  Nor- 
mande,"'  thrown  considerable  light  upon  t?  9se  fishing  and 
trading  voyagers,  but  there  is  no  evidence  of  their  passing  into 
the  great  river. 

Once,  indeed,  it  seenidd  as  if  the  French  monarch,  who  had 
occasionally  sent  an  armed  vessel  to  protect  his  subjects  in 
this  region  against  the  English,  Spanish,  and  Portuguese, 
awoke  to  the  opportunities  that  were  passing ;  and  in  1577  he 
commissioned  Troilus  du  Mesgonez,  Marquis  de  la  Roche,  to 
lead  a  colony  to  Canada,  and  tlie  project  commanded  the  con- 
fidence of  the  merchants  of  Rouen,  Caen,  and  Lisieux.  Cap- 
tain J,  Carleil),  writing  in  1588,  in  his  "Entended  Voyage  to 
America,"  tells  u^  that  the  French  were  trying  to  overcome 
the  distrust  of  the  Indians,  which  the  kidnapping  exploits  of 
Cartier  had  implanted.     Whether  any  such  fear  of  the  native 


1!> 


ser- 


animosity  stood  in  tin;  way  of  La  Roche's  enterprise  or  not,  is 
not  evident ;  hut  certain  it  is,  that  he  did  not  sail,  and  the 
king  remained  without  a  representative  on  the  St.  Lawrence. 
This  sovereign  gave,  however,  in  1588,  in  re(iuital  of  claims 
made  by  the  heirs  of  Cartier  for  his  unrewarded  services,  a 
'barter  to  two  of  that  navigator's  nephews,  Etienne  Charton 
and  Jacques  Niiel,  in  which  he  assigned  to  them  for  twelve 
years  the  rif;!it  to  trade  for  furs  and  to  work  mines,  with  the 
privilege  of  a  <!oaimercial  company.  The  grant  was  made 
partly  to  enable  the  heirs  to  carry  out  Cartier's  injunctions  to 
his  descendants    lot  to  abandon  tlie  country  of  Canada. 

Such  reserved  privileges  were  a  blow  to  the  merchants  of 
St.  Malo,  and  they  drew  the  attention  of  the  Hreton  parlia- 
ment to  the  monopoly  in  such  a  way  that  the  king  found  it 
prudent  to  rescind  the  charter,  except  so  far  as  to  mine  at 
Cap  de  Conjugon.  No  one  knows  where  that  cape  was,  or 
that  any  mining  was  done  there.  So  a  second  royal  project 
came  to  naughc. 

It  would  have  been  better  if  the  first  expedition  that  really 
got  off  had  never  started.  A  few  years  later  La  Roche, 
who  had  had  much  tribulation  since  his  last  luckless  effort,  was 
commissioned  (Jan.  12,  l.")90)  to  lead  once  more  a  colony  to 
the  St.  Lawrence.  By  this  act  that  king  revived  the  powers 
which  Francis  L  had  conferred  on  Roberval.  Chartering  two 
vessels  and,  in  default  of  better  colonists,  filling  them  with 
convicts.  La  Roche  sailed  west  and  made  Sable  Island.  Such 
portion  of  his  company  as  he  did  not  need  while  exploring  for 
a  site,  he  landed  on  this  desert  spot,  not  without  raising  the 
suspicion  that  he  did  not  dare  to  land  them  on  the  mainland, 
for  fear  of  their  deserting  him.  While  searching  for  a  place 
to  settle,  heavy  gales  blew  his  exploring  ships  out  to  sea,  and 
back  to  France.  Those  whom  he  had  abandoned  at  Sable 
Island  were  not  rescued  till  160-3,  when  twelve  had  died. 

This  is  the  last  scene  of  that  interval  which  we  have  been 
considering ;  but  in  the  near  future  other  spirits  were  to  ani- 
mate New  France,  in  the  persons  of  Pontgrave,  Champlain, 
and  their  associates,  and  a  new  period  of  exploration  was  to 
begin. 


